Attorneys and advocates for survivors of violence have noted a troubling trend in the first months of 2025: immigrant crime victims are even more afraid to seek help from the police and courts. That is the clear finding of a new survey by the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors (AIS), titled “Fear and Silence: 2025 Insights from Advocates for Immigrant Survivors.”

Said Adilene Nunez Huang, Director of Client Experience at Tahirih Justice Center, “While the survey results are deeply saddening, I am not surprised that a huge majority of immigrant survivors are hesitant to reach out to the police or go to court for protection. It reflects what our service providers at Tahirih encounter every day. Immigrant survivors are justifiably afraid of detention, deportation, and separation from their family and children in this environment, and it’s driving them to choose to stay in dangerous situations.”